1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to managing configuration information for multiple devices.
2. Related Art
Each computer system includes information about its internal state, such as where its software elements are located, where data is maintained for those software elements, and the like. As computer systems become relatively large, the amount of that information also becomes relatively large, and the task maintaining that information in a manageable form becomes relatively difficult. For one example, in a cache management system (a system including a set of caching devices each of which maintains relatively local copies of web pages and possibly other network objects obtained from relatively remote origination servers), each one of a set of multiple caches can include information regarding how web pages should be downloaded, how quickly, whether selected client devices can download web pages, where selected web pages would be downloaded from, and the like; when there are many such caches, assuring that each cache has correct and up-to-date information can be detailed and time-consuming. For a second example, there can be multiple devices each having at least some information that is unique for each device and at least some information that is identical for multiple devices. In both examples, management of such information, including assuring that each device has correct and up-to-date information, can be detailed and time-consuming, and therefore error-prone.
A first problem in the known art is that access to multiple devices involves either direct physical access or communication with each such device. Direct physical connections to multiple devices can be inconvenient, such as in those cases where the set of devices is physically dispersed. Using a communication link is subject to the drawback that at least some of the devices might be unavailable at the time. Moreover, both of these methods presume that the manger already knows of the existence (and how to reach) each of the multiple devices, to direct them to use the particular information the manager selects.
Additional problems in the known art include the following: There is no convenient method in the known art for managing both local and remote information for multiple such devices.                There is no convenient method in the known art for managing multiple such devices in groups or subgroups.        There is no convenient method in the known art for managing device information by multiple information managers.        There is no convenient method in the known art for managing device information when those devices are protected by firewalls, without granting access to those devices to managers.        
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide an improved technique for managing information, particularly configuration information, for multiple devices.